Trailer Reaction - Toy Story 3

I was 9 years old when I first saw Toy Story. I was 13 when I saw Toy Story 2. I'll be 23 by the time I get to see Toy Story 3. The fact that the Toy Story universe shares the same time-line as ours, that Andy grew up the same as us makes this franchise even more special. This is the series that started a revolution of animated films as Toy Story was the first ever computer-generated animated film and put Pixar on the map of the film industry. And after 10 years of Pixar's even more sophisticated and maturing creations from The Incredibles to Wall-E, it would be about time to check on what the toys are up to. I may have grown up, but its never too old to check on Woody and Buzz.

The trailer begins with a nostalgic taste ala watching an old VHS tape of little Andy delightfully playing with his toys. Pixar is well-known to strike up emotions as a beautiful song by Randy Newman plays over the montage of Andy playing while growing up. The hard impact is when it shows Andy now in his 20s and is getting ready for college. And man, how he's grown up. Woody and Buzz had stated that they'll be ready when Andy reaches that time and now that time is closing by. Personally I would just bring the toys to college along, but what will Andy do to this favorite toys... well we find out he dumps them at the local pre-school and that dynamic has shifted when the little tots starts torturing the toys. Kinda like Sid in the first movie. The toys won't stand for such treatment and so they plan to break out. And thats all we know from this point. This is probably the first theatrical trailer and will be learning more about the story from the next clips and trailers. It ends with Buzz gets damaged and was reset into spanish mode. This part was worrying for me as it may retain the same subplot from the earlier two movies where Buzz thinks he's an actual space ranger. Hopefully that gag will be short.

Of course I'm gonna see this, just based on two simple factors. One - its Pixar and you should be trusting Pixar long ago. Has Pixar ever fail on you before (and Cars wasn't that bad)? Two - its Toy Story. I always choose this franchise over Shrek's. Shrek may have laughs, but Toy Story has heart. And it doesn't feel like an overused cash cow. I'll be like an 9 year old kid when I get to see this latest installment.

Watch the trailer below

Trailer Reaction - Twilight: New Moon

Everyone knows I hate Twilight. I can tell you many good and rightful reasons why I think Twilight is just crap. And its normal for me and every other guys to hate the series. Yet it made money and its perfect logic by the studio to do a sequel. Girls somehow love the whole girly metrosexual teeny-bop romance that happens to have "vampires" in it. Well hey, I REALLY REALLY hope the Twilight series does a Harry Potter. First Harry Potter story was kiddie and it gets progressively better and darker. So in what right mind made me want to see the new trailer of Twilight: New Moon? I'm a dude!

So far, everything is a scatter. From the story elements to the locations, spaning from greyish Arizona America to sunny Italy. The story from the first movie was a total bore with a boring location, so the series decided to bring up a SUPREME HIGH ORDER... of VAMPIRES! Wow that came out of nowhere. If it was mentioned in the first movie, it could flow right in just as well. Glitter Eddie decides to break up with Bella for her safety, so she goes Emo Peter Parker and decides to be a REBEL!.... Yeah! That arc just goes away quickly with the new romance of Bella and Poodle Werewolf Jacob. And now we see more of shirtless Jacob. Nice marketing technique, guys... way to get girls come running towards to this movie. Hey why not have a entire werewolf clan shirtless too? I wouldn't be surprised if there were chipendale dancers. Action scenes are just average, nothing eye-catching. Many slo-mo shots, trying too hard to capture emotions. And not one shot where vampires sports their fangs or even suck blood. And REALLY? Do vampires have an Indian parade out in the sun?!

Girls will be seeing this no doubt, but for me, I'll be steering clear. There's nothing interesting about this movie I look forward to for me. Maybe wait till I rent it. Or if my girlfriend drags me to see this. God help me!

Watch the trailer below

Trailer Reaction - Inception Teaser

Christopher Nolan is now a hot item in Hollywood thanks to the success of The Dark Knight and so he's taking a Batman break by going back to his psychological film noir trademark with Inception. The premise of the film has been very tight in secrecy, described as a "a sci-fi thriller with the architecture of the mind". Nolan have been known for making intelligent complex films like Memento and the Prestige and we could expect a crafty and totally mindf*cking film. Plus you have a star lineup of huge A-List actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy and Michael Caine.

The beauty of this teaser is that the mystery keeps building, revealing not much of the plot and gives you captivating and stunning visuals while accompanied by Han Zimmer's creepy score. Especially the short, but totally awesome scene where two guys are fighting in a hallway that has lost control of gravity itself. Guys are bouncing off the walls and fighting on the ceiling, had me at "WHOA!". Its a very short teaser, but it already shows the kind of talent Nolan has in his hands. We probably don't need another Batman movie very soon and we're very much fine having something different.

Check the teaser below.

Trailer Reactions - Avatar

This is a new segment on my blog, where I review the latest trailers I just watched.



This article is about the largely world-wide anticipated movie of the year, James Cameron's Avatar. Deemed to be return of legendary filmmaker, James Cameron after a decade, who have brought such great films as Terminator, Aliens, the f*cking awesome Terminator 2 and the average Titanic. Now with a concept that was 14 years in development, Cameron describe this film as "revolutionary" and "game changing", a totally new science fiction opus that we have never seen before.

First of all, I wasn't very hyped up by this film from the beginning and never knew what is it really about, but I kind of envisioned that it was going to be that one-of-a-kind movie. A film that came out of nowhere and blew the pants out of everyone, like The Dark Knight and District 9. It was going to be 2001: Space Odyssey all over again. And man....

How disappointed I am with this film. Realized that it is just another war film between human and CG aliens. With lame CG. The first few seconds was interesting as it sets up a brand new live-action setting with marine soldiers occupying the lands. Marine put his mind inside of an weird looking alien, which is an odd thing to look at. And then suddenly we're thrust into a Pixar/Dreamworks movie. The transition between these two worlds weren't smooth and very awkward. The design and textures of these cat aliens doesn't blend well and this is when the disadvantage of 3D animations and live action hybrid come to play. While a hybrid of 2D animation and live-action can get away by looking absolutely comedic, cartoony and fantastical, the purpose of 3D animations in a live-action is to look as real or as the term "photo-realistic" as possible in order for the film to work. Comedic and children films can loosen the realism of the CG, but for a drama and action film like this, the CG have to be believable and top notch for the audience to ride along with the story. This film would have either been a fully animated film or a live action film. Especially when this film's hype have been set so high, there is so much deliver. In this case, it is a step back. Already people are complaining that the CG being too close to a video game cutscene and I understand them. It does look like the latest X-Box 360 game.

This is the poor man's version of District 9. And I know the film's concept came before D9, but this is James Cameron and a 300 million dollar budget. They better step up their game.

Watch the trailer below.